com ports in use

[Guest]

Trying to get free com ports in the range 0-9 I have removed several ports,
but on installing bt software the ports still start from high numbers eg
com23.

In the device manager I can find no hidden devices with com ports from com13
to com22, but when I change an existing com port all these are shown as "in
use"

How do I:

determine what software is using these ports?

change the "in use" status to clear, if they are not being used?

Help please!

 

[ik]

change the "in use" status to clear

Having the exact same problem.
Searching for a solution....

 

[Si Ballenger]

Having the exact same problem.
Searching for a solution....

http://www.modemsite.com/56k/xptip.asp